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Bob Telson | |
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| Born | (1949-05-14)May 14, 1949 (age 76) Cannes, France |
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| Instrument | Piano |
| Years active | 1968–present |
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| Website | www |
Robert Eria Telson (born May 14, 1949) is an American composer, songwriter, and pianist best known for his work in musical theater and film, for which he has receivedTony,Pulitzer, andAcademy Award nominations.
Robert Eria Telson was born inCannes, France, in 1949. He grew up inBrooklyn, New York, son of Paula (née Blackman) and David Telson. He began studying piano when he was five years old. By nine he had already performed aMozart piece on television and given a concert of his own compositions. At 14, he wrote 72 love songs for his first girlfriend, Margie. At 16 and 17 he studied organ,counterpoint andharmony in France withNadia Boulanger.[1] He followed this with a degree in music fromHarvard University in 1970. Telson also played organ and composed original songs for a rock band called The Bristols, while he was a high school student atPoly Prep inBrooklyn, New York. Several of these were recorded atDecca Studios but never released. At Harvard, he formed another group called Groundspeed, which brought him back to the Decca Studios in 1967 to record a demo recording of his songs "L-12 East" and "In a Dream" with producerDick Jacobs. This was released by the label in 1968. After the demise of Groundspeed, Telson formed the band Revolutionary Music Collective, which included then-unknown singerBonnie Raitt on lead vocals.
After graduation from Harvard, Telson's first professional work was as a member of thePhilip Glass Ensemble from 1972 to 1974. After that began his immersion in ethnic world music, as the pianist ofsalsa bandleadersTito Puente andMachito. He was then organist of the gospel groupFive Blind Boys of Alabama, for whom he also composed, arranged and produced. Collaborating with director/writerLee Breuer, in 1983 he composed the musicalThe Gospel at Colonus,[2] an adaptation ofSophocles'sOedipus tale, featuringMorgan Freeman, theFive Blind Boys and theSoul Stirrers.Newsweek called it: "The best white man’s capturings of the essence of black music sinceGershwin'sPorgy and Bess."
As a composer, Telson received anAcademy Award nomination for his song "Calling You" from the movieBagdad Café,[3] as well as Pulitzer,[4]Grammy andTony Award nominations for his Broadway musicals,The Gospel at Colonus andChronicle of a Death Foretold, an adaptation of theGabriel García Márquez novel.
Telson has composed soundtracks for American, French, German and Argentinian films (including five forPercy Adlon), as well as a ballet score forTwyla Tharp (Sextet) His songs have been recorded by many international artists, such asBarbra Streisand,Natalie Cole,George Benson,Joe Cocker,Celine Dion,Wynton Marsalis,k.d. lang,Shawn Colvin,Caetano Veloso,Gal Costa,Etta James,Jeff Buckley, andGeorge Michael.
According toThe New York Times: "Mr. Telson has a remarkable talent for relating to musicians from diverse musical cultures and for writing stirring, dramatic music in non-Western European idioms."[5] They also described his music as "a compendium of world music styles brilliantly reimagined, embellished and sometimes made to overlap by Mr. Telson, a classically trained American composer and multi-instrumentalist".[6]
Telson's latest CDs, "Bantú," and "Desafiando las Distancias, Part II," were released in December 2024. His new musical, "Bantú," with libretto and lyrics by Graciela Corso, was presented in New York in October 2023, and in Uruguay in November, 2024.
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